Don't be fooled by the decade-long decline in youth violence. Video games are driving kids cross-eyed with violent rage, according to Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch. Violent video games are the new hot-button issue for politicians who badly need to appear as if they care about children. And many with national ambitions are climbing on the bandwagon.

In the early days of video gaming, "Nintendo" was for young boys. If you were over 18 or a girl and you played "Nintendo," something was amiss. As young gamers grew up, console gaming did, too, and now no one bats an eye when a 30-year-old investment banker spends his time at home on his 360.

Microsoft this month touted its Xbox Live service at a game developer's conference in Britain, reminding everyone that the online gaming service, which has grown up quite a bit from when it was just a place to play "Halo," is burgeoning into what is sure to become a bona-fide, coveted media property.

While a lot of the attention in the video game ad market is focused on the bigger-name franchises from major development houses, potential in-game advertisers have a whole other sector to look at--casual games.